My suggestion is to load back to front, organized by size. This photo shows 16 dinner plates, 12 pasta bowls, 10 soup bowls, 8 wine glasses plus in one load.

I like silver ware to face center, on its side for the most part (though not necessary a later dinner party photo makes clear).
Also on bottom rack, in the back, I frequently have the tines down on the back quadrant to accommodate bowls. Things can also be stacked on top of those. All my ss cookware goes into the dw as well.

Riedel wine glasses.

Cutlery from dinner for 18

The Method tabs are quite soft. I cut them with kitchen shears and keep them in the airtight container under the sink. I order several bags at a time and cut up one bag to refill the container. Light loads/light soil gets 1/2. Heavy get whole. Extra heavy or very full or baked on cookware gets a whole Finish Quantum tab. Anyone who has been using Miele tabs and throwing them in with the wrappers needs to remember to remove the Finish bricks from their wrapper. I had a surprisingly clean load one time with a wrapped tab left in the cup.

This post was edited by rococogurl on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 12:33

Wow! rococogurl, look at that first pic! I've never tried plates up top - thanks for posting!

This is awesome! Thanks Rococogurl and akcocoran for starting this thread.

I so concur...thank you Rococogurl and akcocoran for this thread along with the "other" one that you started, akcocoran! You've both answered so many of my questions....:)

Also, Rococogurl, I hope you won't mind me asking, but I couldn't help but notice your lovely dinnerware....what is the name of the pattern etc? Thanking you in advance :)

Glad to be of help on the DW. I've got one of the older models so you folks with the newer bells & whistles really have the best of the best.

angelight, thanks for the lovely compliment. Dishes are Gien's Oiseau Lyre. I'm a blue & white girl. That particular pattern has been discontinued but their Oiseau Bleu is the Mom and they have other gorgeous patterns. This was everyday investment china but its been super durable for nearly 20 years now with constant hard use, heated drying in an old DW and DH microwaving on it.

This post was edited by rococogurl on Mon, Sep 2, 13 at 8:02

rococogurl, thank you so much annnnd you're most welcome for the compliment. :) There's nothing quite like having everyday dishes that you love! I appreciate your sharing more than I can say......now off to check out those dishes. :)
Oh yes, I'm a blue & white girl, too :)
Thanks again ~

angelight, if you're a b&w girl, you might also enjoy my other dish love, which is Burleigh. When I found I could not add Gien pieces due to the discontinuance, DH gave me a gift of the Burleighs. I love, love their big breakfast cups.

Waited until end Jan/beginning of Feb for the annual sale and ordered to take best advantage of the good discount and maximize shipping cost (but coming from the UK no tax of course). Couldn't find a good US source as these aren't heavily marketed or especially well known although they've been making dishware since the 1800s.

Lots of b&w choices and they are also very durable. Plus serving pieces are pretty reasonable. Have fun! Hope I'm not getting you into too much trouble here LOL.

Oh My! Those are lovely. Trouble's afoot now ........

Oops - Saw and got the wrong Method Smarty tabs in Target. I didn't see any other kind? These are clearly smaller and you can put in with the plastic wrapper on.

Has anyone used these - or maybe I need to order the other kind from the Internet?

Thx - still hoping for more pictures, so we can try out more loading techniques, but I really appreciate your pics and answer on the Smarties! :)

akcorcoran

****For those reading thread, NOT SURE these will work - look above at rococogurl's Smarty Tabs!****

Why not try them and let us know how you like them?

bump

Did the other smarty tabs work?
Rocco- lol on your silver tray! Guess you don't have the OCD gene!
Also where do you get your tabs? I am using the Miele with the wrappers on.

Also - note Miele has 2 different rack major rack configurations. I have racks similar to Rocco and find them very flexible and hold tons of dishes.

I can't fully claim the loading technique. My company was "helping" and then I piled it on LOL.

Target, Amazon and drugstore.com all have the Smartys. lately i've been going with drugstore and getting the 3-bag discount.

I have a friend who freaks out with the 3rd rack concept - so when she comes over - she piles in the SW and looks just like your post - but I usually fix it - drives her crazy..

Rocco - thanks - I will have to go hunting for a target - but betting Miejer "Shifty Acres" will have some as well. I always thought they had to be ordered.

I know this is a bit off topic, but akcorcoran can you show us the rest of your kitchen? I see you have a pretty nice prep sink on what I presume is your island!

I actually just got a new Miele (about a month ago) and am struggling with how to load it as well. Well, I guess the part I'm struggling with is the silverware and having to open/close the racks to fill. Do people just leave all the silverware til the end and load it at that point?

I suppose this is telling of how I don't really keep up with load-as-you-go!! I have a huge 10" deep sink now so unfortunately I've been just stacking dishes in the sink, whereas I use to be better about loading right away.

Does anyone have the silverware basket that you can just throw the silveware in?

Thanks!

Hi Ellen -

We kind of segment the silverware as we go. So, I start with knives from the back of one side or the other, b/c then they don't block any utensils going in the utensil drop-down in the center. Then I usually go with spoons on one side and forks on the other. If I have two different sizes (forks, for example,) I start one size about half way down and then add to that group as they come, same with spoons.

Oh, wait, you might have meant that you don't have the third row for cutlery? oops!

Thanks! I do have the third row for cutlery, but I'm not sure I'm liking it! When loading, I have to keep opening/closing it to get access to the lower 2 racks..... last time I loaded I decided to wait to do all silverware at the end, and that seemed to work better.....

That is what you should do.

Load all the flatware at the beginning or the end.

Really? I'm maybe missing what the problem is? Our third cutlery rack stays in the dw when we open it or pull out any of the other two levels, so I load each whenever convenient? And load the flatware together at one time, but not saving it until right before I run the dw (saving it up in my sink?) Maybe I'm missing something?

I'm still hoping for more pics - need some more ideas to try. :-)

Here are some more pix I found.

Just do a Google picture search on "miele bobload" or "miele dishwasher bobload" or even just "dishwasher bobload".

I like dropping the middle rack to its lowest or near-lowest position and using it for dinner plates and smaller cookware, and using the bottom rack for glasses and cups. This is the arrangement my old Maytag dishwasher used, and I got used to the convenience of having the larger, heavier items on top so I don't need to lean over and lift heavy items from the bottom rack. This makes sense, and I don't know why the reverse is the norm. The racks in the newer higher-end Miele DWs are even better for this use than the older model I have. You can double-stack glasses on the left side, with enough height for fairly tall glasses on the lower deck. The current models have the flip-down cup racks on both sides, and their height-adjustable. That allows for effectively 6 rows of cups or glassware on the lower rack, with space left over in the center for other items. If you raise the middle or upper rack on one or both sides, there's even room for full-height glasses on the fold-down shelves.

My favorite design feature of Miele dishwashers is how they designed the racks to hold either plates, glasses, or cookware in just about every location. Most dishwashers have simple pegs (tines) on the lower rack that are ill-suited for anything but plates, and conversely the upper rack often can't fit large plates or cookware, especially if there's a third utensil rack above it.

BTW this is the interior of the Maytag dishwasher I had; made in the early '90s (from a pic i found online of a similar model). Note that the lower rack is configured for glasses, with fold-down cup racks on both sides; and the top rack for large plates and cookware so that loading/unloading heavy items don't require reaching down, a boon to anyone with back pain:

They revisited that layout in the mid-2000s with their 3-rack dishwashers sold under the Maytag and Jenn-Air brands. Some of them had height adjustments for both the upper and middle racks; if the top rack was lowered, it would have ample height for dinner plates on the right side, and the center rack (like the top rack) was shaped so it could hold either glasses or plates as needed. What's more, both the top and center racks were terraced (slanted left to right) but in in opposite directions, so it could hold large dinner plates in the top rack (at the right) and the center rack (at the left) at the same time. And there was still enough height left for a lower rack mainly for utensils, but with the center rack raised there was enough room on the right side of the lowest rack to hold saucepans and the like. A brilliant design I wish they still made, but these were discontinued shortly before the remains of Maytag was bought out by Whirlpool, after which both Maytag and Jenn-Air appliances were replaced by Whirlpool-based designs. This photo shows the racks loaded with the glasses on top and large plates underneath, but with the top rack lowered it could be arranged in the reverse as with the Miele DW i have now.

This post was edited by lee676 on Sun, Nov 17, 13 at 20:02

Thank you! The book is basically useless because I don't know anyone who only uses plates and cups. I just loaded my first run with my Miele Futura Dimension and it took me longer than it would have to wash them by hand. Where should the colander go? The Pampered Chef chopper? We use a LOT of flat-ish cereal bowls and they were the most problematic. I was regretting my decision and this helps.

When I had the Miele I put my Pampered Chef chopper on the 2nd shelf and put the extra pieces toward the right side and the cap on the little fold down shelf for glasses. If your cereal bowls are "flatish" will they fit in the tines for plates? If not I put some on the second shelf and the rest on the bottom leaning against the tines. I don't have a pic but I hope this helps you.

I don't know what a Pampered chef chopper is. But the colander can definitely go over anything on the bottom rack as long as it doesn't impede the impeller -- IOW check to see that nothing bumps it. I also have put the smaller colander on the center shelf if I leave it for last and the dw doesn't have a lot of glasses.

If by "flattish soup bowls" you mean broad cream soup bowls with rims, those generally go on the bottom shelf and may take up 2 slots. But so what. The dw fits a ton of stuff. Loading will go very quickly as you get to know the DW.

OT (I apologize) - Rococogurl, what dishes are those in your second set of photos from Nov. 15, 2013? I know you said the earlier photos have Gien dishes, but I didn't see the ones in your second set of photos on the Gien website. They are lovely!

@sahmmy_gw - Thank you! They are antique Rorstrand dishes I bought out of an auction in Stockholm. No name I've been able to find. The previous photo have the Gien Oiseau Lyre, which are discontinued though Oiseau Bleu is the first cousin.

Im so glad you started this. I am so frustrated with my Miele. I had an Asko which was amazing. I got the Miele because of all the modifications you can do with the racks. But I can fit only half of what my Asko did. My bowls don't sit nicely in between the tings. Glass storage conainers take up a huge part of the rack, even one or two. The rack which is for glasses is suppose to allow you to put something small on it to wash. That doesn't work well. Either the little dish or large utensil does not get clean or the rack really cant fit over a coffe mug so only if you have shallow glasses is that even a possibility. I've only had the Miele for a couple of weeks but I stil havent been able to load it efficently. Does everyone use Finish Quantum tabs and not Cascade tabs?

I'm loading mine in the trash. Happy to send pics on trash day.

I absolutely hate the way Miele has designed their interior rack. My Asko washer was sincredible. I went days before it was full; it held so much and easy to load. My rand new more expensive Miele is a nightmere to load. Yes, the racks can be lowered or raised but no matter. So mamy things hit the spray arm or the upper rack can't be closed. The middle of the cutlery tray protrudes to the first rack so even aa tupperware lid has to be placed omehow on the sides. Dishes don't stay ibetween the tonggs of the upper rach and forget washing platters or baking sheets. They just don't go. Anyone who has a suggestion, I'm all ears! (I didn't get another Asko becasue they didn't have the cutlery tray but in retrospect I'd gladly trade that tray for the Asko interior set up!)